In ongoing censorship of the internet, Pakistan has blocked access to Scarleteen, a sex education website geared towards teenagers.

In an alarming development, the website that has provided sex education and support worldwide since 1998 has apparently been banned as part of the PTA’s attempt to shut access to all pornographic content to Pakistani internet users.

Scarleteen, which was established by author, activist, feminist and internet publisher Heather Corinna, was set up to be an “inclusive, healthy, and sex-positive sex ed resource for teens” online.

According to a review by Common Sense Media, Scarleteen, “includes information that’s geared toward younger teens (articles about self-esteem and puberty) as well as more “adult” topics that aren’t normally addressed in sex-ed classes (like sexual pleasure). The site identifies as feminist and pro-choice and explains its philosophy as “a nonjudgmental and unbiased attitude of acceptance, tolerance, and understanding for young people, whether they choose to be sexually active or not.”

The government has recently cracked down on content that is deemed offensive, blocking up to over 13,000 pornographic websites and was also considering certain words in SMSs.

The judiciary and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had taken action against porn websites by blocking or banning access to them in the country, following multiple petitions filed by the citizenry.

We’re Pakistanis. We’re going to learn sex ed the good, old-fasioned way: start to get fat and listen to the doctor tell you it has something to do with the thing you did earlier in the bedroom without using a you-know-what. That’s good enough for us.

Why don’t PTA block TV channels? Imagine television with just PTV :-) ………. We need to educate our generation not to shutdown the bad things. Do you think that blocked sites cannot be accessed… haha..PTA dn make fun of yourself plz.

Absolutely shameful move by the PTA. It’s as if the Taliban are running this organization. Hopefully whoever is the head will be fired soon and someone with some sense and an understanding of the power of the internet will take over.

i wish the government would also consider shutting websites which promote sectarian violence, political violence and religious extremism in Pakistan, and also those websites which belong to political groups and other religious outfits which have been banned by the country

as far as porn websites or any such silly issues are concerned, i think it is not for the state to dictate or interfere in the private affairs of its citizens unless they happen to be harming the country or its social atmosphere

currently extremism and corruption are the biggest threats to the social fabric of our country, i wish our president would crack down on these issues first!

can not access filestube.com =( .. used to download engineering books from there.
another site photography-on-the.net related to photographers can’t be accessed. assuming the mistakenly read it as pornography-on-the.net =/

I really don’t agree that we can learn from western sex education websites! They have been saying everything is fine from pleasuring oneself to oral stuff.
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Western films/websites have been promoting certain actions saying it is ‘safe’. Our next generation is copying their life style and their medical advice.
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Recently I read in a UK newspaper that biggest cause of MOUTH CANCER IN THE UK TEEN is due to ‘Oral’ things they do in sex (more than 6000 Mourth Cancer every year). While our society has always regarded ‘oral’ as dirty and unhygienic.
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After giving them this type of education and making them use to such stuff through the Internet, videos etc, isn’t it too late to tell them that they have cancer because of this?

Is this the only thing reamained to b addressed? Wow … Wht a lovely place to live whr thris no problem of corruption, no issues pertain to secterian violance, no problem pertain to religious extremisim, no problem about corrupt judiciary, no problem about corrupt politicians, nobproblem abou the corrupt electoral system …. Rest is all settled by the judiciary n the only thing remained to b taken care of is ‘porn websites’ … Xtremely stupid!!
A place whr ppl dont even know how to drive on roads, whr ppl have no road ethics (specially bikers) h u want thm to act ethically on the web?? Common PTA n judiciary, end this crap n address something valuable n productive for this country! We need a pshycatrist at the govt level who will develop the ethical values of the ppl of this country!!